![]() ![]() Because federal and state agencies are failing to address the ecological problems in the Delta - moving forward with plans for water diversions and storage projects that will increase threats and further degrade Delta habitat - the Center is working to ratchet up protections for this species. In 2007, when too few smelt were found during surveys to even calculate fish numbers, it was clear that the species was nearing extinction. ![]() An extinction risk analysis in 2006 warned that the Delta smelt could go extinct within 20 years. In fact, the delta smelt is only one of 12 of the original 29 indigenous Delta fish species that have been eliminated entirely from the area or that are threatened with extinction. This smelt's catastrophic decline is a warning that we may lose other native Delta fish that have fallen to alarmingly low levels as well, such as longfin smelt, salmon, and sturgeon. The “smeltdown in the Delta,” as the extinction trajectory of delta smelt is known, has left the once-abundant species in critical condition due to record-high water diversions, pollutants, and harmful nonnative species that thrive in the degraded Delta habitat. ![]() The tiny delta smelt is one of the best indicators of environmental conditions in the San Francisco Bay-Delta, an ecologically important estuary that is a major hub for California's water system - and an ecosystem that is now rapidly unraveling. ![]()
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